SHEB109 Academic English skills

Annotation:

The course aims to improve students' reading, writing, listening and speaking skills in an academic context, while also acquainting students with the basic rules and requirements for delivering an academic presentation and writing an academic essay. Topics to be explored to include:

- gathering information from reliable academic sources

- correct ways of referencing and avoiding plagiarism

- building up arguments, counterarguments, supporting arguments in a presentation or essay

- basic structure and layout of an academic essay

- using academic English appropriately

- time management with academic assignments

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Business Studies (Joint programme with The University of York)

Lecturers:

Andrey Andreev
Prof. Diana Yankova, DSc

Course Description:

Competencies:

Students who have successfully graduated the course will have acquired extensive, in-depth knowledge of

- what constitutes a successful academic presentation, delivered individually or in a small team

- what constitutes a successful academic essay in terms of content, structure, source referencing, and relevance

- what language items come under the terms academic English and what language items to avoid in an academic presentation or essay;

and will have developed the skills to

- gather trustworthy sources on suitable to an academic presentation or essay

- build up or refute arguments in an academic presentation or essay

- speak confidently and convincingly while delivering an academic presentation

- defend their stance and answer additional questions at the end of an academic presentation

- investigate an academic topic and build up a stance on the basis of information gathered

- write a coherent, logically structured essay based on research done on a given topic

- correctly reference their information sources and avoid plagiarizing

- use the appropriate register of language in an academic environment


Prerequisites:

Students must have a good command of English at the C1 level of the Common European Framework.

Types:
Full-time Programmes

Types of Courses:
Lecture

Language of teaching:
English

Topics:

  1. Introduction to the course, defining the meaning of academic skills and outlining the objectives of the classes to follow and the assignments to be done during and at the end of the course
  2. Academic English 1 - Introduction and Practice
  3. Defining reliable academic sources. Explaining the need for referencing and avoiding plagiarism.
  4. Ways of referencing: means of in-text citation and bibliographical citation. Introduction to the Harvard Referencing Style.
  5. The Harvard Referencing Guide - extra information, additional examples, and practical exercises.
  6. Delivering an academic presentation - dos and don'ts. Researching a topic, incorporating sources and time management.
  7. Academic presentations - practice.
  8. Presentations, Part 1
  9. Presentations, Part 2
  10. Academic essays - difference from other exam references. Discussing the basic requirements and the differences between delivering a presentation and writing an essay.
  11. Academic essays: constructing paragraphs. Providing a clear and coherent structure to an essay. Building up arguments, using supporting arguments and examples. Writing a thesis statement. The role of topic sentences. Basic rules of referencing - avoiding over-citation and plagiarism.
  12. Academic English 2 - using the proper register in writing and avoiding pitfalls.
  13. Monitoring students' progress on the essay assignment and discussing students' first drafts
  14. Revision of course basics and extra practice on problematic points.

Bibliography:

Awad, D. Advanced Academic English. Grosvenor House Publishing Limited, 2019

Hewings, M. Cambridge Academic English C1 Advanced Student's Book. Cambridge University Press, 2012

McCarthy, M. & O'Dell, F. English Vocabulary in Use: Advanced.Cambridge University Press, 2017

Pawan, K. The Essentials of Academic Writing. KS OmniScriptum Publishing, 2019